Angélique des Méloizes (; December 11, 1722- December 1, 1792) was a Canadian socialite, and the politically influential mistress of

François Bigot François Bigot (; 1703 – 12 January 1778) was a French government official. He served as the Financial Commissary on Île Royale (nowadays Cape Breton Island), commissary general of the ill-fated Duc d'Anville expedition and finally as the ' ...

, Intendant of

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

1748-1760. She was the centre of high society in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. The daughter of Nicolas-Marie Renaud d'Avène des Méloizes and she was the granddaughter François-Marie Renaud d'Avène des Meloizes. Her mother was Françoise-Thérèse Dupont de Neuville, she was born in Quebec City. Des Méloizes was married to the

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an Officer (armed forces), officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of “human resources” in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed ...

of that city, Michel-Jean-Hugues Péan. She is known for her love affair with

, Intendant of

1748-1760, and for the influence over politics attributed to her during his tenure, for which she has been compared to

Madame de Pompadour Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...

. Alongside Péan, Bigot and Joseph-Michel Cadet, she was accused in France of having contributed to France's loss of Canada to Britain in 1760, during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. In their later years, the couple lived at Orzain near

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...

in France. She died at Blois at age 69.

References

* Juliette Rémillard
“RENAUD D’AVÈNE DES MÉLOIZES, ANGÉLIQUE,”
in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed June 15, 2016, {{DEFAULTSORT:Meloizes, Angelique des People of New France 1722 births 1792 deaths 18th-century Canadian women 18th-century Canadian people Canadian socialites